


The Neverending Pachyderm Enclosure

by mewties (icantbelieveitsnotmeulin)



Series: The Tristen-Prompted Bioware Quartet [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-09-26
Packaged: 2018-04-23 10:38:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4873588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icantbelieveitsnotmeulin/pseuds/mewties
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elise Cousland and Alistair Theirin will never understand the preoccupation of small children with elephants. They aren't even that interesting, kids, can we please go somewhere else?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Neverending Pachyderm Enclosure

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from tokilladm: “Elise and Alistair are taking their nephews to the Zoo when they bump into each other cause neither kid wants to leave the elephant enclosure (they’ve been there for hours)“ (except I subbed “nephew” for “sort-of-cousin” in Alistair’s case)

“Oren. They are elephants. Can we go now.” Normally, Elise was patient, encouraging, and playful with her nephew. Normally, she had not spent an hour and a half staring at goddamn elephants.

“No!! Wait!! That one might do something!” He pointed excitedly to one of the elephants in the back. Elise silently wished that they’d come in a month when the elephant enclosure would be closed.

“Oren, I swear, I will lift you up and carry you out of here if I have-” Elise’s threat was cut short as two things happened in quick succession. One, an older-looking, lanky boy ran up next to Oren and two, a loud set of shouting came calling after him.

“Oh no, we are NOT going to the elephants **_again_**! It’s been **THREE TIMES, CONNOR** -”

“Father said you had to take me wherever I wanted!!” The boy shouted back.

“Uncle-” The (admittedly attractive) man serving as the boy’s escort came up, wearing a familiarly exasperated look on his face. _“_ …Your father said to ‘have fun.’ You’ve already stared at them for HOURS, Connor, how can this still be fun???”

Connor, as he was called, ignored what was being said, and clung to the rail. One of the elephants started to bathe itself, and the boys began pointing and crying out in awe. Elise crossed her arms and leaned back, towards the other unfortunate victim of this circumstance.

“If I never have to see another elephant in my life, I will be pleased,” she commented. He snorted and chuckled in response, doing the same.

“I think he’s doing this on purpose, just to annoy me.” He said. “His mother hates me, I wouldn’t put it past her.”

“Maybe it’s something with kids their age,” Elise postulated. “Oren and I normally get along well. I thought he’d want to see the tigers, not spend all day staring at large, smelly herbivores.”

He pointed at Connor. “I got him all the way to the primate house before he wanted to turn back. I fear I’ll never see any other part of the zoo again.” She snorted.

“Elise,” she said, offhandedly.

“Ah, Alistair.” He turned to her and holds his hand out. She looked first from it, back to his (surprisingly handsome) face, her own screwed up in confusion because did he seriously just offer to shake hands in this situation??. He awkwardly shifted on his feet. She shook it anyway, an idea forming.

“Alistair. What do you say we grab our respective runts and carry them off someplace interesting?” She was entirely serious. “I’m thinking reptile house.”

“Normally I’d be against manhandling children in a public place, but I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever smell anything besides elephant again.” They shared a solemn nod, before synchronously grabbing their respective boys around the waist, hoisting them up over their shoulders, and going to find a map to the reptile house.

Thankfully, the boys took to all the weird frogs and big snakes well. They watched a couple turtles swim around with interest, and Elise and Alistair hung back a bit, surveying them with relief. Elise reached over and gave Alistair a good, hearty pat. “We did it. Excellent job.”

“ _Did you just smack my ass?!_ ” He started as a squeaky exclamation, and quickly brought his voice back down to a hushed whisper, so as to avoid attention. He stared down at her accusingly. She looked back up, briefly raising her eyebrows.

“Well, it was my idea. I felt I deserved a reward.” His face turned red, and he glanced briefly back at his own derriere.

“You could have at LEAST bought me something from the gift shop first.” He pouted, a feigned hurt tone to his voice. _  
_

“Please. At gift shop prices? That would warrant a _**lot**_ more,” she teased. He started turning red again, his mouth firmly shut. She leaned in towards his ear. “So if I buy you something from the gift shop, what do I get?”

He stared forward. “Nothing. You’re horrible.”

“Oh, come on! You must get this all the time.”

“No, actually, I don’t.” He mumbled it out of the corner of his mouth. Elise was genuinely caught off-guard by this. Was he…actually not used to flirting??

“Then how about this instead. You give me your number and we have lunch or…whatever meal it is now, here. Deal?”

“……Fine.” She took out her phone, bringing up the new contact menu before handing it to him. “But no promises on anything else, got it?” He handed it back to her.

“Understood.” She sent him a quick text of a snake emoji. “Ready to wrangle?”

“Let’s see if they’ll go peacefully first. They must be getting hungry.”

The boys talked excitedly amongst themselves over their dinner (lion burgers and tiger dogs, with some macaroni and cheese-tah for Oren because he insisted), giving the older two a chance to chat about their interests. Elise was fairly pleased with how well it went, and judging by the look on his (clearly an open book) face, Alistair was, too. The sun was setting by the time they figured they should each head home.

As they prepared to part ways, Elise sent him a quick text. _‘i’d like getting to see you w/o the munchkins around. really.’_

“Well, it was nice meeting you-” Alistair heard his phone go off and quickly dug for it, clearly concerned. “Connor, say goodbye to Oren…” He read over the text and Elise watched him blush again before locking eyes with her, as if he was going ‘really?’

The boys finished their goodbyes. Elise smiled. “Nice meeting you, too.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. All three stared at her, incredulous. She pointed to Alistair’s phone. “I meant it, by the way.” He opened his mouth, clearly searching for something to say, but Elise put her hand on Oren’s back. “Come on, Oren, let’s go home.”

As she walked back to her car, she got a text. _‘okay, you TOTALLY owe me a gift shop thing now.'_


End file.
